13 July 2009 Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood

Call of Juarez - Bound in BloodPS3, XBOX360, pc Rated : MA15+ Developed by Techland published by Ubisoft

BAJOCall of Juarez: Bound in Blood is a prequel to the original sleeper hit. You take on the roles of Ray and Thomas, who are deserters from the American civil war in 1864.

JUNGIt's really a story of 3 brothers and their quest for mythical treasure. The unplayable brother, is a preacher and constantly harasses you for being of low moral fibre, and rightly so. Ray and Thomas have their own set of moral codes, and don't care who they kill to reach their goal.

BAJOWith the exception of chickens, Jung. And cows. There's lots cut scenes and voice over by the preacher, which adds a nice storybook feel to the game, and the costumes and music are not only perfect, but also excellent. Billy's strength is in stealth, lassoing and long range weapons. You don't stealth much though, because it's pointless and throwing knives is boring but his long range weapons such as bows and rifles are good.

JUNGRay's a bit tougher, and can dual wield 6 shooters which is always fun, but he can't climb walls, for some reason, so the two rely on each other a lot. Each have concentration modes which you build up by killing- Ray lets you scan the area, and take out enemies in one foul swoop. Billy automatically locks on enemies in view, and all you have to do is move the mouse backwards and forwards to cock and fire your gun.

BAJOI really liked the concentration modes Jung, and the game keeps you interested by throwing in lots of door bashing moments, where bullet time lets you pick off enemies as your guns come closer together and there's also some fantastic stage coach rides.

JUNGYou can buy new weapons from shops, and they're all very inaccurate and slow which reflects the times and not a bad thing. It would have been nice to have some melee tho Baj.

BAJOAgreed. There is a welcome auto aim on the pistols, and gunplay in general is very gratifying except that if you're a millimetre too far away from an enemy - you have absolutely no chance to hit them so it's better, and more fun to rush up and take cover.

JUNGSpeaking of, we love the cover system. You automatically go into hiding near walls and boxes which mostly works great. By moving your mouse you peak around edges very fluidly, and the way the weapons move about gives you that hectic, run and gun and duck feeling.

BAJO The western pew pew sound effects add to it too Jung - and I love a game that lets you shoot birds out of the sky. Boss fights are quick draw mini games, and they need good timing. When the bell goes off, pull out your gun and fire...

JUNGMostly the game is linear but you'll be directed all over the place as the two brothers work out how to get out of their constant sticky situations. There are a couple of areas where you get to do a few side missions for cash to upgrade your weapons in an open world. These also allow for some free ridin' horsy rides!

BAJOWe reviewed this on PC and you can see that it's a good looking game mainly because of the strong level and art design - but we spent a few hours with the PS3 version as well and I gotta say Jung, it was just awful.

JUNGYeah Baj, I played the PS3 version first and was ready to put it down after 10 minutes. It's slower, loading is intrusive, and it just looks a lot worse then what a half decent PC can muster, we're not sure if it's like this on 360 or not though. Of course FPS always sits better on the PC, but the console controls don't do the game justice and make it very very hard...

BAJOMind you our PC version bugged out on the third last chapter and wouldn't let us progress...we contacted the publisher who said no one else had issues, so it might just be our very temperamental Bohemoth Jung...One thing I noticed Jung is early on you feel a little like the game is forcing you to play it the way IT wants you to.

JUNGYeah - sometimes you'll die because you're too slow to reach a checkpoint or you walk a small distance away from your brother, or you don't cannon enough enemies in time - it's feels unfair to be sent back to checkpoints because you walked too far. It DOES get better though, and sticking with it makes for a really rewarding journey especially when you start going against Indians and trashing saloons.

BAJOI love this setting so much Jung and you really warm to the game over time. Multiplayer is class based, and just awesomeeeee. Assuming the game can actually be played past our crash point, I'm giving it 8.5/10. I really want to finish this Jung, it's a good story and it feels like there's going to be a big redemtion ending but I dunno... What did you think of it?

JUNGI liked it too - It was nice that you didn't have to do so much lassoing - it was everything that was wrong with the last game, I'm giving it 8. I think it's time to take Bohemoth out back and send him the way of old Yella Bajo.